Like A Dream
by al-fearless13
Summary: Gabe Saporta, Ryland Blackington, and a prostitute named Zoe... NOT what you think. Read to find out!


Zoe's POV

I lay tangled in his arms, eyes shut, mouth slightly open. I'd done this so many times, and yet it still felt so wonderful that I couldn't put it into words.

I sighed happily, opening my eyes as I looked up at him. "Mmm," I smiled, nuzzling my face down into his naked shoulder. He let me stay there, to my surprise. I was just a prostitute, Gabe Saporta's little whore. It was my job, and he paid me well. As did everyone else.

"Cash is on the dresser," he said, and I felt the rumble of his voice in his chest. I don't know why he was telling me; the cash was _always_ on the dresser. Right in the middle, in front of the mirror. We always wound up in some hotel room or a bedroom in some party frat house, but he was happy and I had cash.

I nodded, but I didn't get up. The money could wait; he was warm. As I snuggled deeper into him, he surprised me even more by putting his arm around me. I looked up at him curiously. He was never like this; he was one of those that would leave you alone as soon as he was done with you. After all, I was just a whore. Yet I was falling for him faster than I thought possible.

And then his finger was under my chin, tilting it up further so he could see my eyes. He looked at me for a long, long time. I started counting in my head so I wouldn't feel obliged to look away. I wasn't one to shy away easily, but with Gabe, everything was different.

I got all the way up to sixty seven before he spoke.

"So… why do you keep coming back to me?"

"What?"

"Here. You keep coming back. Why?"

"I don't know… you're paying me…" It was more of a question than a statement.

"But you could just go with anyone else, right? I'm sure there's tons of better guys out there than me."

I stared at him, even more confused than I was before. Humble? Gabe? Who was this guy in bed next to me?

"Gabe, what are you talking about?" I asked, shutting my eyes.

He shifted, moving so he could see me more comfortably.

"And if you keep asking me why I come back, it's cause you keep calling me. So, shouldn't the question be why do you keep calling me?"

"I don't know. Just… forget it, Zoe, okay?"

I turned over and he got up. He kissed the top of my head silently before pulling on his jacket and shoes and walking out, closing the door behind him.

The music from the party outside was pounding on the walls as I turned over in bed, moving over to the place where Gabe had just been laying, the warmth from his body heat still there.

I pushed the sheets down around my hips, flipping onto my stomach and folding my arms over the pillow. I shook my bangs out of my face and shut my eyes, replaying our conversation over and over until sleep overtook me.

But even in my dreams I couldn't shake the thoughts – why didn't I just tell him I loved him? And why did he look so nervous? He looked like he thought I was going to attack him or something? I wasn't.

After a few hours, I felt a warm hand on my bare back. I woke with a start, crossing my arms over my chest, quickly turning over to see who'd found me here alone. It took a few seconds, annoyingly enough, for my eyes to adjust, so I blinked rapidly to try and speed it up.

"Ryland?" I asked softly, my voice letting it be evident that I'd just woken up. The surprise in my voice was also audible, I assumed – he'd never woken me up before.

"Yeah," he said darkly. "Zoe, you gotta come quick."

"What? Why?"

"It… It's Gabe, he…"

"He what?" I prompted. "Is he okay?"

"He got in his car drunk…" His voice trailed off, and I noticed the undeniable tears glittering in his eyes as he stared off to the side.

I threw the covers off (he'd seen me naked before – I was a prostitute, remember?) and scrambled for my dress and heels, pulling the dress over my head and grabbed the shoes and Ryland's hand. Then I stopped, realizing that I had no idea where I was supposed to be going.

"Where is he?" I asked.

"Right outside. His car's destroyed – he hit the big oak tree."

My hand covered my mouth.

"He's unconscious."

"Oh my God," I breathed.

"Zoe…" he sighed, shutting his eyes. "They don't…" His voice broke. "They don't think he's gonna make it, and I was trying to find you as fast as possible, and I looked everywhere and you weren't there, and then I saw you and I got so scared, and Zoe I just don't know what to do, cause if anything happens to him, god, I swear if anything happens to him - "

"Shh," I murmured, moving forward to embrace him as the dam broke and his tears started to flow. "It's okay, Ry, it's okay…"

And I knew it wasn't okay, but if it would make Ryland quit crying, then I was willing to lie. It'd be worth it. I hated to see them cry; they were in so much pain that they didn't have the self control to hide it from me.

He held me as I clung to him. My hands were trembling, and I guess he felt them cause he reached down and took both of mine in one of his. I shook my head, getting the tears out of my eyes before they could fall. "Come on," I said quietly.

"I can't," he said, his voice broken. "But you can. I'll be right here."

I didn't want to go alone, but I had to know if he was okay or not. There was a crowd of people outside, and I saw blue and white flashing lights – police. Oh God…

Ryland slipped his jacket around my shoulders, and I slid my arms through the sleeves. I gave him a weak smile of thanks and went through the automatic doors into the icy winds. I was barefoot, too – that sure didn't help at all.

I pushed through all the people, going, "Excuse me, excuse me…" Surprisingly, they all parted for me, just a short little blonde girl in a skimpy dress and no shoes. I felt all eyes on me as I wandered up to the police. "Excuse me," I said politely, trying not to let the fear show in my voice.

Two of the cops looked up and one of them came over. I could tell that _What's her story?_ and other similar thoughts were flying around in his head as he looked me up and down. But all he said was, "Miss?"

I shivered and tugged Ryland's jacket closer around me. "Where's Gabe?" I asked quietly.

"I suggest you go inside, ma'am. It's cold out, and you're not dressed for it - "

"I'm fine. Thank you," I cut in sharply.

The man looked taken aback by my sudden change of attitude. That wasn't going to get me what I wanted; I had to go back to the timid version of me, which was what I honestly was. It was the only way.

"Um…" I blurted the first lie I could conjure – "It's just… he's my brother, and… isn't it against the law for you not to let me see him? I mean, we have different last names, and all… our mom," I nodded, explaining.

He sighed, moving aside to let me through the rest of the officers. I started crying when I saw him, quietly, but still audibly.

He was knocked out as Ryland had said, and there was blood from his hair trickling down his temple, matting his dark hair with a reddish black color.

I knelt next to him, the man who had been inside of me only a few hours earlier. I took his hand, starting to cry a little bit harder. "Gabe," I sobbed softly. "Wake up. Please wake up…" I leaned onto his chest and cried into his warm plaid shirt.

A comforting hand laid itself on my shoulder, and my eyes flew up to Ryland.

"How did you - " I asked tearfully.

"Shh," he murmured, wiping a streak of mascara off my cheek and wrapping me into his arms. He stroked my hair in a gentle attempt to quiet me.

"he can't die," I sobbed into his chest.

"What?" he asked, pulling back a bit.

I looked up at him with tear-filled eyes. "Gabe. He can't die," I repeated, shaking with fear and emotional pain.

"Zoe," he whispered, pulling me back into his arms.

A soft noise came from the ground then, and both Ryland's and my eyes flew down to Gabe. He was stirring, his eyes slowly trying to fight their way open. They visibly seemed to weigh a thousand pounds.

I was stunned into silence by it, but Ryland wasn't.

"Hey, buddy," he said gently. "Gabe… can you hear me?"

He looked at us. "Hey…" His hand slowly moved up to me, and I took it, tears streaming down my face.

"What happened?" he asked slowly, using great effort first to conjure the words, then to string them together, and last to get them out.

"You wrecked your car," Ry explained.

"Dammit," Gabe whispered, and Ryland laughed.

I ran my hand over his forehead, letting myself get some of the sticky blood on my fingers. Gabe winced.

_He's gonna die_, I thought, repressing a sob. _Just tell him now, Zoe. Just say it._

I leaned down, one of my tears dropping onto his cheek. He reached up and felt it, catching it on his finger. He inspected it and then slipped it into his mouth. "Don't cry, Zoe…"

He must've hit his head pretty damn hard.

I whispered in his ear, "Gabe, I just want you to know… I'm in love with you."

He looked at me with the same expression that I'd seen on his face not three hours previously. He pulled me suddenly to his mouth, the only place we'd never kissed. Cheek, hand, forehead, yu name it – we'd seen it all before. But a kiss on the lips was… romantic. Too far past just friends for both of us.

I could sense a bit of blood in his mouth, the taste of alcohol also heavy on my tongue. My hand cupped his chin as we continued to kiss. I felt the blood racing through my veins and my head pounding in my chest, so strongly that I was able to feel it in my ears. I had to pull back, though – the tears were still flowing.

"I love you, too," he whispered, and the tears were still threatening dangerously to spill over.

"Hey, don't cry," I murmured, brushing lightly at his cheek. He blinked, and a tear dropped on each side.

"I'm dying," he whispered, shutting his eyes and sniffing deeply.

Ry looked sadly at me, sliding a comforting arm around my shoulders.

"I'm dying, Zoe, and I've loved you all this time and I never said…" His voice was thick with tears. My Gabe was really crying. "I'm so sorry…"

"Gabe, it's okay," I replied, finding his hand again and giving it a light squeeze.

Just then, some EMTs came over. "We need to take him," one of them said, and my stomach immediately dropped.

"Wh-no!" I cried weakly.

I could see that it was paining Ryland to do it, but he nodded and undid my hand form Gabe's and leaned down to embrace him. "You'll be fine," he said softly. Then he nodded at me and I kissed Gabe's lips again, the blood taste even more prominent than it had been before.

"I'm just a prostitute, Gabe," I whispered in his ear. "Remember that."

He shook his head slowly as best he could. "No, Zoe, you're not. You're so much more than that."

And then his eyes slid shut and the EMTs moved around him as Ryland picked me up off the ground and set my feet on the pavement, making it impossible for me to see around them.

"Was he breathing?" I asked him, on the verge of panicking. He didn't answer – he just rubbed my arm lightly, staring off into the distance.

"No," I murmured. "_No._ No! Gabe, no, please, no…"

I looked around at all the flashing lights and sirens and people staring and I just couldn't handle it anymore. My world was falling apart, and I'd lost the only thing that really mattered to me. My Gabe.

I started running. I didn't have the strength, but I just kept pushing myself. I found the bedroom and locked myself in, the lights all off. I stumbled around quickly until I found my purse. There was heroin there, always there, just in case.

I found the needle and flicked on a side lamp to get a vein. When I did, I tied a shoestring around my arm and positioned the needle over the vein.

Ryland started pounding on the door, and I screamed, "Go the fuck away!"

"Zoe, let me in," he said angrily.

"No!"

And I pressed down on the end slowly, my eyes shutting as I felt the drug enter my veins and join my blood in the journey throughout my body.

It was enough to stay high for a long time, enough to easily kill me.

So I lay back on the bed and curled up comfortably, letting my body shake with exhaustion. I knew Ryland would find me here, and I didn't have time to write a note.

"Ryland?" I called through the darkness.

"Zoe?"

"I'm sorry."

"Wh-Zoe. What the fuck did you do?" he asked, and he didn't even bother to hide the fear in his voice. "Zoe! _Zoe!_"

But I didn't answer – I was already too far gone. I knew Gabe would never make it to heaven, and now neither would I.

It was all over, and it would be just like a dream.


End file.
